Monthly Archives: August 2011

Friday evening – Obrigado Sao Paulo. !

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At the Sao Paulo Airport headed back to Buenos Aires.. I’m going to meet up with Gabe tonight and that will start our vacation. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with him.

I’ve really enjoyed my visit to Sao Paulo.. I can’t explain it really.. its a huge and busy city.. but somehow it radiates warmth.. .. Obrigado Sao Paulo. !. I’ll come back soon !

I woke today around 5 AM .. unable to sleep for some reason.. I think it was the 2 tons of cheese I’d had as part of my great dinner. with friends duarte, wilson , julie and liggy. .

 

I dozed a bit.. but around 7 I dragged myself out of bed and went for a run.
I ran through a spaghetti of overpasses and underpasses to get to a footbridge which lead to Ibirapuera park.. a huge green oasis in the city.

 

 

I was amazed to see the place packed with runners, walkers and cyclists at 7am. There wer eall sorts of folks there.. lots of runners my age and older, kids, running teams, dog runners.. it felt like a party..

 

though the day was gray and warm/hot (high 70’s ?) ,, the place was full of bright flowers.. It felt so good to get some exercise. I put two samstones in the park… one in the mouth of a lion sculpture and anoth in one of the three lakes in the park.. I know that my freind Wilson had placed one in one of these lakes a few years ago…

 

after placing the stones.. I headed back to work.. . My freind Duarte picked us up at the hotel and took us the short 15 minutes to IBM. I spent the day meeting wit friends about work..

 

here is Duarte and Luana

We grabbed a good lunch.. I was pleased to see they even had a word for vegitarian here.. even more pleased that they had food for them 🙂

 

 

.. Around 1 I gave my last talk of the trip…  then took the long ride back to the airport.. It was cool seeing Sao Paulo by daylight ..

 

 

Over the past two weeks, I’ve visited 4 ibm sites in 4 cities, , given 5 IBM talks, 5 university talks (about 1000 student toal, I think) and one customer visit.. All my talks but one went pretty well.. I’m happy and tired.. and eager to goof of with Gabe.. My flight leaves for Bueonos Aires in an hour.. I may be offline for a couple of days..It’ll be nice to slow down…

 

OK.. we’re boarding soon.. More from Argentina tomorrow

Nite all, nite sam

-me

Thursday night – calor humano

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Hello from Sao Palo.. one of the worlds largest… and (in my opinion) friendliest cities.. I really have fallen in love with brazil.. the people here are so warm and genuine..  I remember my freind Andy coming back from here talking about ‘calor humano’ .. ‘human heat’.. it’s evident everywhere , everyone is hugging and kissing all the time.   Even my breakfast was smiling !

 

 

My day started with a big ibm meeting….I just love these types of event.. I got to meet many folks from all over the country.. they were here to network and exchange stories.. Events like this are what make our company great..   My talk went very well..

 

From there I took off to visit one of the local customers.. getting driven through the streets of this giant city was an adventure in itself.Heres a scene of folks learning brazilian kic boxing..

Id’ liek to say my customer meeting went great.. but it didn’t.. .. not sure why.. but perhaps it was because I wasn’t nervous before

Luckily .. things turned around went to visit  Senac.University.. I was nervous ( a good sign. I think).. because I had to give my tlak via simultaneos translation. I gave a talk on science careers and my time on the colony.. it went great… which put me in a better mood.. despite the tranation, the whole group stayed with me and then hung out after for talking and pictures..   I won’t put all the pictures here.. but here are a few…

I won’t go into it here.. but I was feelign a bit down

 

Around Wilson, Julie, Duarte and lLggy met for a really great dinner.. .. great conversation, great food …

OK.. gotta sleep now more tomorrow..

thanks for everything brazil !

nite all, nite sam

-jc

 

Wednesday night – Maniac

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Actually Manioc.. as in .. what I had for dinner..   I’m in Sao Paulo, one of the worlds biggest cities.. and so far I really like it.

I spent the mornign in BA working .. it was great to have that time to catch up. One cool surprise was to see this guy come by the window (on the 18th floor).. What a job !!!

 

around 11 I went out for a short run.. it was a little gritty out there… but lots to see…

 

Around 1 I walked over to the IBM site to meet up with Julie S who’s also heading to Brazil.. we shared a cab to the airport..

I got to Sao Paulo about 7..  It’s a HUGE city.. so far I really like the people .. and the scenery.. it’s pretty nice here.. very warm and spring like..

as I imagined.. they didn’t have much for vegetarians at the hotel resturant.. but I did get to try Manioc.. it’s a bit like potatoes.. so they were fried like french fries.. yummy.. but… fried.. still wodnering why I ate them.. but they were very tasty..

 

now watching crazy Brazilian tv.. I better turn it off and get some sleep…

so.. more tomorrow..

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

Tuesday night – Buenos Aires

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Buenes Noches from Buenos Aires.. I’m here mid way on my mix of IBM talks and vacation. I had a great day in this wonderful city .. I arrived in town at 6:30 AM after a long but uneventful trip from Mexico City by way of Panama City.   It was only a brief stop there .. but time enough to place a samstone on top of an arcade game there .

 

Buenos Aireas is a big city.. it looks very European in some ways..

I went straight from the all night flight to the IBM meeting I was speaking at.. Oddly enough.. I wasn’t that tire.. the meetings today were really great. I absolutely love events like this that bring folks together face to face.. there’s really nothing else like tit for building networks.. I enjoyed speaking to the group today.. but even more, I enjoyed listening to the other speakers. I learned stuff about the company and even about stuff I help make that I never knew.. and I had to come literally half way around the world to hear it.

 

After my tlak at IBM… Nestor and Javier took me to to the National Techical University of Buenos Aires.. The country’s premier technical university..

 

 

It was a packed house of mostly 1st year engineers and other technical students.. I had some AV issues wit ht e projector, but after we straightened that out, the rest of the talk went fine.

my fAVORITE Prt was hanging out and talking to the students after my talk.. they were really bright and fun kids.. This is what I enjoy doing most in my career !I’m so glad that doing this is part of my job.. or at least that I make it part of my job 🙂

After the TALK , Nestor and Javier took me back to the hotel just in time to meet up with Gabe, his roommate Will and our good freind Hannah from Vermont.. i was SOOOO happy to see3 Gabe.. He looked great and had so many stories to tell.. they’ve kept these kids so busy.. I can’t believe all that they’ve crammed in.It was really fun hearing al the sorties and observations and looking through gabe’s pictures.. I am so proud of him making this all happen.

 

It was also great meeting Wil.. he’s a great kid.. and fun to be around.. I’m glad that he and Gabe have been able to hang out together..

It was also great and wonderful to get to hang out with Hannah.. She’s here for four months of study It’s surreal seeing this kid have know since she was born here as an adult.. Time passes.. hannah is also having a fantastic time here..

The four of us headed out for a walk down town and dinner.. We sopped in  a random restaurant and had a very good dinner of empanadas and pizza.. yum !!!

 

 

we even stopped by gabe and will’s school.. a very cool old building.

 

around 11:30 we put Hannah in a cab and Gabe, Will and I walked back to Gabe’s house. it’s only a long block from my hotel

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Again.. it is so wonderful getting to hang out with Gabe  here.. !

I said goodnight and walked the creeepy streets back to my hotel. Now it’s 1:30 and I’ve only slept 7 hours in the last 48.. time for sleep !!!!

More tomorrow

for now.. gnite all, gnite sam

-me